Vital Statistics
John Laurence Pinsent: 1916 – 2014 GRO0525 (Farmer)
Margaret Molyneux Favell: 1918 – 2010
Married: 1940: London
Children by Margaret Molyneux Favell:
Daughter (GRO0614)
Daughter (GRO0642)
Daughter (GRO1119)
Daughter (GRO0238)
Son (GRO1120)
Family Branch: Devonport
PinsentID: GRO0525
Referenced
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John Laurence (or Laurance) Pinsent was the eldest of son of John Ryland Pinsent C.B.E., D.S.O. by his wife Kathleen May (née Boyce). He was born in Birmingham in 1916 and presumably moved around with his parents as his father’s postings changed during and after the “First World War”. He grew up in-and-around army camps at Biggleswade, in Bedfordshire and Maresfield Park, in Sussex before going to “Horris Hill” preparatory school in 1925.
John Laurence was, for some reason, living at the home of a “domestic nurse in Eastbourne, in Kent, when the 1921 census was taken. I do not know why. Perhaps he was getting ready to go to school. John Laurence was at “Horris Hill” until 1929. From there, he went to his father’s old school of “Winchester College” (The Trusty Servant: Winchester College). It was a “Public” (private) schools that prepares its students for university.
Richard was accepted at “Trinity College” in Cambridge in 1935. While there, he attended hunt balls (Hampshire Telegraph: Friday 25th December 1936) and played golf. “Jock,” as he was generally known, won the “Hockley Golf Club’s Tank Cup” after a tie-break in April 1937 (Hampshire Advertiser: Saturday 10th April 1937). He also played with his father – the then Major of Winchester – at Worthy Down Aerodrome when its golf course was officially opened later that year. They were paired off against Air Commodore Blount O.B.E., M.C. and Squadron Leader Hayward and tactfully allowed them to win the first round on their new home course Hampshire Advertiser (Saturday 11th September 1937).
At the outbreak of the Second World War, John Laurence obtained a commission in the “Royal Artillery” and found himself assigned to an anti-aircraft division that served in the United Kingdom. He spent time in Tenby in South Wales, and also in the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. Presumably he watched over the home fleet anchored at Scarpa Flow. Whether he met my father Robert John Francis Homfray Pinsent, a “Captain” in the “Royal Army Medical Corps.” while there, I will never know. My father was also there. He was a doctor looking after Italian prisoners of war. John Laurance later became a “gunnery instructor” and he was de-mobed with the rank of “Major”, in 1946.
Second Lieutenant John Laurence Pinsent married Margaret Molyneux Favell, the eldest daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Favell of Penberth, St. Buryan (near Penzance) in Cornwall, at Chelsea Old Church, in London, in February 1940. This must have been shortly before a promotion, as he was a full “Lieutenant” in August when he contributed to the “Penzance Spitfire Fund” (Cornishman: 22nd August 1940). According to an on-line discussion of the Favell family (“The Favells at Penberth”) “Jock” had been a friend of Margaret Favell’s brother at “Winchester” and at “Trinity College,” and he had introduced John Laurence to his family when their paths crossed on a skiing holiday in Switzerland in the 1930s.
One of the (many) advantages of being home-based during the war was that Jock and my father were both able to start a family while still in uniform. Jock and Margaret’s three eldest daughters were born during the war and lived with Margaret’s family in Penberth. The fourth sister arrived after the war. Jock’s son was born in Cornwall in the early 1950s.
After the war, Jock qualified as a solicitor and joined his grandfather, Sir Richard Alfred Pinsent’s law firm, (“Pinsent & Co.”). His uncle, Sir Roy Pinsent took over as “Senior Partner” when Sir Richard died in 1948 and John Laurence left the firm to study farming shortly afterwards. The family lived at “Little Wick” part of the family’s estate at Selly Wick, in King’s Norton, while it was in Birmingham.
John Laurence studied farming at Trengwainton, near Penzance – which was – conveniently, close to his wife’s family home. Their son was born there in 1950, shortly before John and Margaret moved in to “Higher Ludbrooke” farm, in Erminghton, in South Devon. The farmhouse was, according to the “Favells at Penberth”, somewhat run-down and it took considerable effort on the part of the new comers to turn it into the home it was, eventually, to become. When Margaret advertised for domestic help in 1950, she felt it necessary to state that there was an “Aga” cooker and electric light (Western Morning News: 1st June 1950)! Jock had yet to get established on the farm, and the local papers show that he sold off the grass that year (Western Morning News: 12th April 1950).
“Higher Ludbrooke” was a typical Devonshire mixed farm of approximately 100 acres of land. John Laurence gradually added sheep and built up a herd of “South Devon” cattle (good for high-fat milk and beef). However, he later switched to “Guernsey” and then “Friesian” cows, presumably because of the quality of their milk.
Margaret bred Dartmoor ponies and won a special prize for the yearling she showed at the “Dartmoor Pony Society’s” annual show at Princetown in 1956 (Express and Echo: Thursday 23rd August 1956). The Favell account tells us that she loved to ride and she rode with both the “Dartmoor” and the “East Cornwall Hunts” up until the mid 1960s – when she was appointed “Master” of the “Modbury Harriers”. Her family also rode and one of her daughters raced for the club. Margaret later became a “District Commissioner” for the “Dartmoor Pony Club”. At risk of introducing the lives of their children, I will mention that one of her daughters won the main trophy at the “Chudleigh Hunter Trials” in April 1965.
Jock renovated a cottage at “Lower Ludbrook” in the mid-1960s and, by the looks of it, found the bureaucracy challenging! The architectural plans are filed in the “Plymouth and West Devon Records Office”. Perhaps this is “Warren Cottage”, which was to be their home when the eventually retired.
Margaret died in 2010 and Jock followed in 2014. The “Winchester School Magazine” (“The Trusty Servant”) tell us that he was a self-taught wood carver and he left many beautiful works for posterity. He retained his interest in golf and, after a gap of 30 years, he reduced his handicap down to six.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Richard Alfred Pinsent: 1852 – 1948
Grandmother: Laura Proctor Ryland: 1855 – 1931
PARENTS
Father: John Ryland Pinsent: 1888 – 1957
Mother: Kathleen May Boyce: 1894 – 1969
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Roy Pinsent: 1883 – 1978
Clive Pinsent: 1886 – 1948
Laurence Alfred Pinsent: 1894 – 1915
Philip Ryland Pinsent: 1897 – 1916
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Richard Alan Pinsent: 1931 – 2019
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